University finance panel needed to rationalise funding for Tamil Nadu varsities, says Ashok Vardhan Shetty

Chennai: Indian Maritime University former vice-chancellor and former bureaucrat K Ashok Vardhan Shetty on Tuesday proposed the idea of setting up a university finance commission in every state to rationalize funding for state universities.

"Similar to the state finance commission for local bodies, a university finance commission is needed in each state to assess the need for various courses, departments, and the quantum of grants," he said while speaking on achieving greater equity in higher education at University of Madras.

"For example, Annamalai University is getting more grants than the funds given to all state universities put together. This shows there is no reasoning in our funding. There is considerable scope for rationalization of funding, and this can be done once every 10 years," he added.

He also suggested giving some additional grants based on performance indicators such as graduation outcomes, research output, and students' employability.

On the ongoing financial crisis in state universities, Shetty said, "A situation where publicly funded universities and colleges lack full-time faculty members. In some universities, teachers were not paid for months at a time, and it shows the very low priority accorded to higher education. It's not only in Tamil Nadu; it's the same in other states also." He also said public universities are guilty of creating unnecessary departments, starting too many courses, and creating too many posts.

Shetty further said that improving the gross enrollment ratio (GER) through private institutions will not work as the fees won't be affordable to most Indians, as 50% of Indians earn only around 2.4 lakh a year.

"India cannot become a developed nation if it neglects its public universities. It must emulate China and South Korea in creating more publicly funded institutions. Inadequate funding and neglect of existing universities is a gross disservice to students," he added.

To improve access to higher education, he suggested measures, including lowering fees in top institutions such as IITs, IIMs, and overhauling the education loan system. The education loan repayment should start only after students' salary reaches a threshold level. University of Madras convener committee member professor S Armstrong, registrar S Elumalai, and others participated in the event.